Update on Investment in TH Crestgate GmbH

RNS Number : 4229O

Mineral & Financial Invest. Limited

07 November 2016

 

Mineral and Financial Investment Limited

("MAFL" "M&FI" or the "Company")

Update on Investment in TH Crestgate GmbH -

IP Study Completed at Lagoa Salgada Lead-Zinc Project, Portugal

HIGHLIGHTS:

-    TH Crestgate, 49% owned by M&FI, completes 6km IP study on the Lagoa Salgada Project located on Iberian Pyrite Belt in south central Portugal.

-    IP Study shows significant anomalies with moderately high chargeability aligned with known mineralization

-    The anomalies are interpreted to be metal sulphides, such as copper stock-works.

-    Current objective is to assess copper potential, given grade and intercept length, as part of same mineralisation or as a separate control system

-    Full re-assaying of historical drill holes of 'Central Sector' bearing high-grade copper intercepts underway.

Mineral & Financial Investments Limited today reports on results and progress from the Induced Polarization ("IP Study") programme and data review currently underway at the Lagoa Salgada located 100 km SE of Lisbon. The asset is owned and operated through TH Crestgate GmbH ("TH Crestgate"), a private Swiss investment company in which MAFL hold a 49% stake.

The Lagoa Salgada project has 17 gravimetric anomalies, of which the LS-1 preliminary resource represents but one of the anomalies. The IP work program was specifically focused on the Central Sector, which begins immediately to the south of the LS-1 area which hosts Lagoa Salgada's preliminary Lead / Zinc. The program consisted of 5 IP 1,200m lines with an average 200m spacing. The area under IP study covers the central sector, which contains holes LS1, LS2, LS12, LS18, LS06044, LS-20, LS-23, LS-26, LS-27, LS-28, LS-30, and LS-31. The IP program was designed to provide additional informational guidepost for future exploration in the area. The current geological thesis that is held is that this is a stock copper-rich stock-work halo which surrounds the LS-1 VMS deposit.

The results of this study have determined the existence of a number of anomalies moderately high chargeability aligned with known mineralization. The results of the works appear to indicate the presence anomalies due to the effect of metal sulphides such as "stock-work" or scattered in the VMS.

Jacques Vaillancourt, Chairman of Mineral and Financial, commenting today, said: "In conjunction with the earlier Petrographic studies, the work completed was value accretive and points towards the presence of more mineralization than is currently reflected in the preliminary resource estimate on LS-1. Combined with the lead / zinc resource and the belief that there is a copper-bearing stock-work zone in the "Central Sector", which is about 1,000 meters south of the known LS1 indicated and inferred resource, TH Crestgate believes there is significant value that remains to be identified at Lagoa Salgada. TH Crestgate is now completing the re-assaying of holes LS-20, LS-23, LS26 and LS-28. These were only partially assayed, despite indications that mineralization extends beyond the high grade segments." 

Location of IP lines at Lagoa Salgada

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4229O_-2016-11-4.pdf 

In the following images showing the chargeability and resistivity from the various areas tested. In images LS-2 LS-4 and LS-5 a large chargeability anomaly can be seen at approximately 150m of depth. Drill holes are being planned to test these anomalies in the near future.

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4229O_1-2016-11-4.pdf

TH Crestgate's 100% owned subsidiary, Redcorp Empredeementos Lda, the operator of the Lagoa Salgada asset, recently commissioned and completed an Induced Polarization (IP) study on the Lead Zinc Project. The Lagoa Salgada Project, which is 85% owned by Redcorp and 15% owned by EDM, Portugal's national mining company, is located in the northern portion of Portuguese section of Iberian Pyrite Belt. The Iberian Pyrite Belt is a known and prolific host of Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) deposits. VMS deposits are important sources of copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver (Cu, Zn, Pb, Au, and Ag). These deposits form at or near the sea-floor where circulating hydrothermal fluids driven by magmatic heat are quenched through mixing with bottom waters or pore waters in near-sea floor lithologies. Massive sulphide lenses vary widely in shape and size and may be pod like or sheet-like. They are generally stratiform and may occur as multiple lenses. These mineralised lenses can be identified as gravimetric anomalies. The Lagoa Salgada has project 17 gravimetric anomalies, of which the LS-1 preliminary resource represents but one of the anomalies.

Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits range in size from small pods of less than a tonne  to supergiant accumulations like that of Rio Tinto, also on the Iberian Pyrite Belt, in Spain at 1.5 Bt (billion metric tons); Kholodrina (Russia), 300 Mt (million metric tons); Windy Craggy (Canada), 300 Mt; Brunswick No. 12 (Canada), 230 Mt; and Ducktown (United States), 163 Mt.  Massive ore in VMS deposits consists of >40 percent sulphides, usually pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena; non-sulphidede gangue typically consists of quartz, barite, anhydrite, iron (Fe) oxides, chlorite, sericite, talc, and their metamorphosed equivalents. Ore composition may be Pb-Zn-, Cu-Zn-, or Pb-Cu-Zn-dominated, and some deposits are zoned vertically and laterally.

The results of this study have determined the existence of a number of anomalies moderately high chargeability aligned with known mineralization. The results of the works appear to indicate the presence anomalies due to the effect of metal sulphides such as "stock-work" or scattered in the VMS.

Previous operators only partially assayed drill hole LS-20. TH Crestgate's team now believes that the mineralized intercepts are greater than the initial drill results released by previous operators would indicate. The assays taken, due to budgetary and / or time issues, focused only on the visible high-grade areas, such as:

Hole	Depth	Thickness (m)	Cu (%)	Zn (%)	Pb (%)	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)
LS-20	215.1 to 230.7	15.55	3.81	3.85	3.82	0.29	0.4

The historical, Canadian Institute of Miming (CIM) compliant, resource estimate, completed in 2012 by Paul Daigle, P.Geo, is summarized below:

Category	Gross					Net Attributable
LS-1	Tonnes	Mineral	Grade	Contained Metal	Units	Tonnes	Mineral	Grade	Contained Metal	Units
Indicated	2,942,000	Pb (%)	2.94	190,686,436	Lbs.	2,500,700	Pb (%)	2.94	162,083,471	Lbs.
		Zn (%)	3.40	220,521,729	Lbs.		Zn (%)	3.40	187,443,469	Lbs.
		Cu (%)	0.34	22,052,173	Lbs.		Cu (%)	0.34	18,744,347	Lbs.
		Ag (g/t)	54.72	5,175,824	Oz.		Ag (g/t)	54.72	4,399,450	Oz.
		Au (g/t)	0.82	77,562	Oz.		Au (g/t)	0.82	65,927	Oz.
Inferred	1,554,000	Pb (%)	2.50	85,648,710	Lbs.	1,320,900	Pb (%)	2.50	72,801,404	Lbs.
		Zn (%)	1.80	61,667,071	Lbs.		Zn (%)	1.80	52,417,011	Lbs.
		Cu (%)	0.35	11,990,819	Lbs.		Cu (%)	0.35	10,192,196	Lbs.
		Ag (g/t)	51.00	2,548,073	Oz.		Ag (g/t)	51.00	2,165,862	Oz.
		Au (g/t)	0.78	38,971	Oz.		Au (g/t)	0.78	33,125	Oz.
Total	4,496,000	Pb (%)	2.79	276,335,146	Lbs.	3,821,600	Pb (%)	2.79	234,884,874	Lbs.
		Zn (%)	2.85	282,188,800	Lbs.		Zn (%)	2.85	239,860,480	Lbs.
		Cu (%)	0.34	34,042,992	Lbs.		Cu (%)	0.34	28,936,543	Lbs.
		Ag (g/t)	53.43	7,723,897	Oz.		Ag (g/t)	53.43	6,565,313	Oz.
		Au (g/t)	0.81	116,532	Oz.		Au (g/t)	0.81	99,052	Oz.

Source: Tetra Tech Wardrop

Asset Description

The Lagoa Salgada resource is focused on one gravimetric anomaly called LS-1. There are a total of 17 gravimetric anomalies on the property that remain to be fully tested. An earlier petrographic study focused on the LS-1 area of the Lagoa Salgada property. The ore body is composed of a central stock work zone - a more than 700m thick volcano-sedimentary complex - and a massive sulphide lens in the northwest. It is covered by more than one hundred meters of sediments of the Sado Tertiary basin (Lima et al., 2013, see below).

References in this announcement to exploration results and resource updates have been approved for release by Joao Barros, BSc (Engineering), MSc (Geology) who has more than 13 years of relevant experience in the field of activity concerned Mr Barros is a Member of the Portuguese Engineers Association. Mr. Barros, who is employed by Redcorp Empreedimentos Mineiros, Lda., a wholly-owned subsidiary of TH Crestgate GmbH, has consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it appears

This report should be seen as indicative of possible mineral content and not definitive as the sample group is insufficient to arrive at any economic conclusions.

For more information:

Katy Mitchell, WH Ireland                                [phone]

Laurence Read, Director                                   [phone]

Notes to editors

Induced Polarization: 

The Induced Polarization (IP) method extends the resistivity method by making an additional measurement of the ability of the ground to store electrical charge. Originally developed for mineral exploration, it is now finding new applications in the fields of environmental and engineering geophysics. IP instruments measure both the conductive and capacitive properties of the subsurface using either time domain or frequency domain techniques. The low frequency capacitance of rocks and soils is primarily a function of the surface chemical properties of the sample. In non-metallic samples the IP response is an indicator of surface area and charge density of the material. IP measurements are therefore sensitive to clay content as well as mineralogy and pore fluid composition. IP methods have been used to estimate the hydraulic properties of rocks and soils as well as to map subsurface contamination. The method is also sensitive to subsurface metals.

 

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